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PRESIDENTIAL EDITION

THE WINNING OF THE WEST

BY

THEODORE ROOSEVELT

VOLUME THREE

THE FOUNDING OF THE TRANS-ALLEGHANY COMMONWEALTHS

1784-1790

WITH MAP

THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED, WITH HIS PERMISSION

TO

FRANCIS PARKMAN

TO WHOM AMERICANS WHO FEEL A PRIDE IN THE PIONEER HISTORY OF THEIRCOUNTRY ARE SO GREATLY INDEBTED

PREFACE TO THIRD VOLUME.

The material used herein is that mentioned in the preface to the firstvolume, save that I have also drawn freely on the Draper Manuscripts, inthe Library of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, at Madison.For the privilege of examining these valuable manuscripts I am indebtedto the generous courtesy of the State Librarian, Mr. Reuben GoldThwaites; I take this opportunity of extending to him my hearty thanks.

The period covered in this volume includes the seven years immediatelysucceeding the close of the Revolutionary War. It was during these sevenyears that the Constitution was adopted, and actually went into effect;an event if possible even more momentous for the West than the East. Thetime was one of vital importance to the whole nation; alike to thepeople of the inland frontier and to those of the seaboard. The courseof events during these years determined whether we should become amighty nation, or a mere snarl of weak and quarrelsome littlecommonwealths, with a history as bloody and meaningless as that of theSpanish-American states.

At the close of the Revolution the West was peopled by a few thousandsettlers, knit by but the slenderest ties to the Federal Government. Aremarkable inflow of population followed. The warfare with the Indians,and the quarrels with the British and Spaniards over boundary questions,reached no decided issue. But the rifle-bearing freemen who foundedtheir little republics on the western waters gradually solved thequestion of combining personal liberty with national union. For yearsthere was much wavering. There were violent separatist movements, andattempts to establish complete independence of the eastern States. Therewere corrupt conspiracies between some of the western leaders andvarious high Spanish officials, to bring about a disruption of theConfederation. The extraordinary little backwoods state of Franklinbegan and ended a career unique in our annals. But the current, thougheddying and sluggish, set towards Union. By 1790 a firm government hadbeen established west of the mountains, and the trans-Alleghanycommonwealths had become parts of the Federal Union.

THEODORE ROOSEVELT.

SAGAMORE HILL, LONG ISLAND, October, 1894.

CHAPTER

I. THE INRUSH OF SETTLERS, 1784-1787

II. THE INDIAN WARS, 1784-1787

III. THE NAVIGATION OF THE MISSISSIPPI; SEPARATIST MOVEMENTS AND SPANISHINTRIGUES, 1784-1788

IV. THE STATE OF FRANKLIN, 1784-1788

V. KENTUCKY'S STRUGGLE FOR STATEHOOD, 1784-1790

VI. THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY; OHIO, 1787-1790

VII. THE WAR IN THE NORTHWEST, 1787-1790

VIII. THE SOUTHWEST TERRITORY; TENNESSEE, 1788-1890

[Illustration: The West

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